That Summer
by Harrison's Top Hat
Summary: The Killjoys and The Beatles have been rivals ever since they started playing at the same club. Now both bands have been booked to tour as an opening act and have the chance to perform at a summer music festival. The catch? Only one band can play the festival. On top of that, a bet is made that puts the club venue on the line. This is gonna be one heck of a summer. Modern AU.
1. Cast of Characters

**This is just a list of the original characters that will appear in the story.**

 **THE KILLJOYS**

Kai Padilla-Vasquez

Stage name: Star Kid

Age: 18

Role: Guitar, vocals, songwriter, composer

Personality: Clever, kinda nerdy, incredibly taleted, and smart

Appearance: Shay Mitchell

James Kalivas

Age: 19

Role: Guitar, vocals, songwriter, composer

Personality: Loud, dramatic, creative, kinda arrogant, and stubborn

Appearance: Avan Jogia

Sam Park

Age: 20

Role: Bass, backing vocals

Personality: Cool, proud, a bit haughty, brave, and loyal

Appearance: Young-hyun Kang

Remy Lewis

Age: 23

Role: Drums

Personality: Kind, laid-back, understanding, and responsible

Appearance: Andrew Garfield

 **MINOR CHARACTERS**

Mitty Tono

Age: 19

Appearance: Sana Minatozaki

Role: Sells merchandise for White Noise, Kai's friend

Olivia Jones

Age: 22

Appearance: Keke Palmer

Role: Sells merchandise for White Noise, Kai's friend

Wendy Lancaster

Age: 20

Appearance: Mae Whitman

Role: Sells merchandise for White Noise, Kai's friend

White Noise

Role: A popular music group that has booked The Beatles and The Killjoys as their opening act on their summer tour


	2. Chapter One: Kai

**Chapter One: Kai**

Kaila Padilla-Vasquez was raised in a family of musicians.

It started with her grandparents on her mother's side. They were all she knew, considering her mother and father had both run off, leaving her with Abuela. Abuela had been a cabaret singer, where she met Kaila's grandfather, who was a piano player. They married, and had three sons, who all played various instruments, and one girl, Kaila's mother.

Kaila didn't know much about her mother, other than she had been a good girl. She sang in their church choir. Then she ran away with Kaila's father at a young age, returning only to give baby Kaila to Abuela the next year. Kaila knew nothing about her father.

It had never bothered her much. Abuela loved her immensely, and indulged her with as many music lessons as she wanted. Singing lessons, piano lessons, violin lessons, cello, upright bass, drums. Though she was a quick learner, and had at least a mediocre skill level at the instruments (except for violin, she had never gotten the hang of it), nothing quite felt right to her. Abuela told her to be patient, and encouraged her to keep trying.

"The right instrument will come, mi tesoro." She said. "When you find it, you will fall in love."

She was twelve when she started taking guitar lessons. Abuela was right, she had fallen completely in love with it. She loved the way she made her fingers dance across the frets, the feeling of the callouses hardening her fingertips, the way the instrument sang to her as she strummed. She was a natural at it, and soon was rarely seen without it.

It wasn't until high school that she really considered playing for other people.

She'd made friends with a sophomore named James Kalivas, who had found her playing at lunchtime and promptly begged her to join the band he was starting. Startled, she said no, but the boy shrugged it off and they talked about music for the rest of the lunch period. It soon became an everyday occurrence.

When she was a sophomore, she met The Killjoys for the first time. James played the guitar and sang. His friend Sam Park, a senior at a different school, played bass. Remy Lewis, who had graduated high school two years prior, played the drums. They were good, but they only played covers, which Kai was quick to point out. They needed to write and compose their own songs, and Kaila could help with that.

"Does that mean-"

"No, James, I'm not joining the band."

Kaila and James wrote and composed together all throughout James's junior and senior years, and they'd worked up enough songs to make a demo for the band. Kaila had wanted her credits to be under Kai, the shortening of her name that she preferred over Kaila, but James had a different idea.

"Star Kid has a cooler feel to it." He'd said, referring to the nickname he'd given her after a school trip to the Air and Space museum, where she'd gotten a little to excited and wouldn't stop spouting random facts about space and stars and the likes. "More mysterious, more eye catching. But then, if you would only join the band-"

"No, James."

Kai finally accepted James's offer after she graduated, with the exception that they would allow her to go to college. She would be the first in her family to do so, and the local community college had an excellent music program where she would take classes in the fall. They had told her that they wouldn't have made her choose in the first place.

Now the infamous Star Kid had joined the Killjoys every Thursday and Friday night at the Crash and Crank, a local hot spot for young adults. They were double booked with The Beatles, another band that had the same surge in popularity as they did, which James and Sam didn't like.

They'd met the group on several different occasions, and tensions between the same four members ran high each time. James and Sam couldn't stand John and Paul, and the feeling was mutual. No one knew where the animosity started, but there was always something to argue about. Who went onstage first, how long the setlist would run, who's crowd was louder, it was endless. Kai and Remy found the whole thing amusing, as did the remaining two members of The Beatles, but they didn't try to make friends, fearing the wrath of the others.

Other than the rivalry between the bands, playing with the Killjoys was fun, and Kai really enjoyed it. However, she hadn't realize how much it was starting to pay off. Until James had called an emergency meeting.

"I got a call." He started ominously as soon as Sam had gotten there.

No one said anything. It was best to leave James to his dramatics. They had long since gotten used to it.

"We have been handed the biggest opportunity of our lives." He continued, pacing in front of them. Kai settled into her chair. This would take a while. "This could be it for us. Our big break. If we do well, we could gain more popularity, record companies will be on their knees begging us to join! We'll have the world in the palm of our hands! It's an opportunity like no other! We have to take it, it's-"

"Get to the point, James." Remy cut in gently.

"Right, the point. We're going to be one of the two opening bands for White Noise's summer tour!"

"What?!" Kai yelped in surprise. White Noise was a really popular band. How had James managed that?

"Apparently they saw us playing at Crash and Crank and liked us enough to book us! And that's not all! If we do well, we might be able to play a main stage at The Dive."

"You don't mean-" Sam started before James plowed over him.

"The massive summer music festival? Yes, that's exactly what I mean."

"This is huge, James…" Remy said softly, his kind face practically glowing. "Who's the other band?"

"What other band?"

"You said we were one of the two opening bands."

"Oh, I don't know, I didn't ask." James admitted with a shrug. "Too excited. We'll meet them in two weeks when the tour starts."

And that was that. Two weeks of preparation began, and before Kai knew it, she was hugging Abuela goodbye. She was excited to go, but a bit nervous to leave.

"Remember to call me whenever you can, mi tesoro." Abuela said, holding her close. "Play your heart out on stage, make me proud."

"I will, I promise!" Kai hugged her tightly one last time before running out to the rest of the band, who were waiting in Remy's van.

"Alright, so the loading zone is at the Crash and Crank, not too far away, so no falling asleep, Sam."

"Yes, mum." Sam replied, settling in his seat, eyes already closed. Five minutes later, he was snoring. Rolling her eyes, Kai rested her head on his shoulder, figuring she wouldn't get in too much trouble if Sam was asleep as well.

The were both awoken by James shouting an ugly swear word that would have caused his mother to smack him. Sam and Kai jumped so violently, they bonked their heads together.

"Ouch, dammit!" Sam muttered, rubbing the spot where Kai's head had hit his.

"Apologies." Kai muttered, squinting to see what had caused James's outburst. When she found it, her eyes widened. "Oh…"

"What are _they_ doing here?" James spat.

"Are they the other band?" Remy asked.

"I hope not."

"What's going on?" Sam asked, always late on the uptake.

"The Beatles." Kai told him. "They're the other band opening for White Noise."


	3. Chapter Two: James

The Beatles. Who on god's green earth would put his band- _James's band that he personally started_ \- with The Beatles!? The Killjoys were local legends! Worthy of all praise and and kind words media had to offer! The Beatles were… James didn't have a word to describe them.

"I can't believe it!" He burst out again. Kai rolled her eyes and grabbed her bags. They were currently unloading the van and packing up the tour bus. "Why would they do this to me, to _us_!?"

"I can't believe you're still not over it." Remy laughed, helping one of the staff members move an amplifier. "It's not that big of a deal."

"But it is! It's a huge deal! This means they're the band we have to compete with for the main stage at The Dive!"

"Scared we'll beat you, Kalivas?" An arrogant voice said behind him.

James turned so he was face to face with John "I'm so cool because I'm British and I'm in art school" Lennon and his stupid sidekick Paul "I'm too pretty to be a guy and I pluck my already perfect eyebrows" McCartney. A scuffling of shoes against pavement behind him told him Sam had come to back him up. The sound gave him a surge of confidence.

"Not a chance, Lennon. It's you guys who should be scared." He said, glaring.

Paul raised his stupidly perfect eyebrows. How did one even achieve such great eyebrows? James couldn't understand. There was no way that was natural.

"I'm not very scared." Paul said, then turned to Lennon, who was smirking. "Are you scared, John?"

"Shakin' in my boots." Lennon smirked, and then he and Paul laughed like they were actually funny.

"You should be." Sam said, glaring. "We're gonna play at The Dive."

"Oho, and what makes you so sure of that?" Paul asked smugly, like he didn't believe him.

"It's just a fact." James said, backing his friend up. "We're better than you. Our songs have substance, our lyrics have weight. You sing silly pop songs about holding hands with girls."

"Is that the farthest you've gone with a girl?" Sam asked, smirking.

Lennon scowled and Paul's ears turned red, which gave James immense satisfaction.

"I wouldn't talk, Kalivas. Don't you have a song about a stripper?"

"At least I've been to a strip club before."

Sam snorted and high fived James.

"What's going on here?" Kai's voice came closer.

"These idiots actually think they're gonna win the main stage at The Dive!" Sam explained, laughing. "Them with their stupid songs about holding hands!"

"Well if you're so sure you're gonna win, how about a bet?" Paul asked.

Kai glared at James. "Don't you dare, James. Don't even think-"

"What are the stakes?"

"Oh god, here we go."

Kai could roll her eyes all she liked, but James Kalivas never backs down from a bet or a dare. Backing down was for the weak and spineless. James was anything but. He was the king of never giving up, the god of relentlessness.

He was so caught up in himself that he forgot to pay attention to what Paul was saying.

"How's that sound?"

James looked to his left. Sam was there, eyebrows raised, face impassive, eyes mischievous. To his right, Kai was glaring and shaking her head. He looked back at Paul, who wore a stupid smirk on his stupidly good looking face.

"It's a bet." James said firmly, holding out his hand to shake. Both of them gave knuckle crushing handshakes and glared at each other. "May the best band win."

"May the best band win indeed." Paul echoed, glaring at James before walking away with John.

"It's official." Kai announced as soon as the other two were out of earshot. "Except for Remy, I'm completely surrounded by idiots."

"Don't worry about it, we're not gonna let them win." Sam said, though he looked a bit paler than usual.

"I didn't even hear the bet, what happens if we lose?" James asked, confused.

Kai stared at him, flabbergasted. "You don't even know what you put at risk? Please tell me you aren't _that_ stupid, James Kalivas."

James didn't answer, but instead looked sheepishly at Kai. Kai was normally pretty cool with anything, but if he or Sam did something really stupid, she could get a bit scary. He understood it was because she knew they were smarter than that, but Kai was probably the only person in the world who intimidated him besides his mother.

"He's that stupid. He's actually that stupid." She affirmed in disbelief. Shaking her head, she continued. "Here's what you didn't know you agreed to- if we lose The Dive, we lose our spot at the Crash and Crank."

James felt his jaw drop and his stomach sink. He worked so hard to get that venue, and now his hard work was jeopardized. "No…"

"Yeah." Kai sighed, then backed down. "Well, I guess we'll just have to make sure we don't lose then. We should promote, give people a reason to come and listen… new songs, unreleased songs! We're gonna have to write, promote it like hell on social media, send out little snippets on soundcloud and instagram…" She walked off, still mumbling plans to herself. She stopped to call over her shoulder. "You guys need to move the rest of your stuff into the bus, we're leaving in fifteen minutes!"

James and Sam scrambled back to the van, grabbing their bags and loading them onto the bus. Remy was sitting on one of the couches, his laptop resting on his knees.

"Make sure you don't lose this bet, James." He said seriously, not even looking up at him.

"You know about that?" James asked, then looked at Kai accusingly. She raised her hands and shook her head as if to say it wasn't her.

"I know everything." Remy replied. "Make sure you don't lose."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry there's not a lot of Beatle interaction! There will be more in the future, I promise! In the meantime, if you could leave a review or something, it would be much appreciated!**


	4. Chapter Three: Kai

As much as Kai loved James, she couldn't stand to be around him at the moment.

He was trying to fix what he'd done, trying to make sure that they won the bet at all costs, and she appreciated that, but he'd taken to pestering her about writing new songs on the five hour drive to the venue, then complaining about whatever she came up with. The pressure was a little too much for her, and as soon as they arrived at the first venue, she announced she was going out alone.

"I'll go with you!" James jumped up with a broad grin.

"James, alone means I don't want to see you." She snapped, then felt guilty when he shrunk away from her. Sighing, she eased off. "I'll write some lyrics while I'm out, I swear. I'll have something before soundcheck."

With that she set out in search of the nearest coffee shop.

Settling into her armchair with some fancy, five dollar iced coffee on the small table beside her, Kai reached into her bag and pulled out a notebook and a pen and flipped open to a blank page. She'd always written best in coffee shops. Something about watching the people and wondering what they were doing always inspired her for some reason.

"Writing?" A vaguely familiar, thickly accented voice said above her.

Looking up she met the dark eyes of a member of The Beatles, whose name she'd suddenly forgotten. She recognized his face, and the fact that he was the same age as her, if not just a year older, but his name just wasn't coming to her.

"Uh, yeah." She replied, not sure she should be talking to him. James would probably explode, regenerate, then rant about how she was "fraternizing with the enemy" until he exploded again. "I was gonna, I guess."

"Let me guess, Kalivas and Park are trying to "get ahead of the competition?"" He used air quotes, causing her to crack a smile.

"Let me guess, Lennon and McCartney are doing the same?"

He snorted. "They're going mad and driving everyone else up the wall with them. Can I sit?"

"Do so at your own risk." She said with a wry smile.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't." He shrugged, sitting in the armchair next to hers. "I take it you wanted some peace for a minute too, then?"

She nodded. "James is a good guy, I've known him for a while. He just makes stupid decisions. He's been annoying me, trying to get me to write something new, something we've never done before, something fresh to bring to the table, but every time I try a new style he scraps it and tells me that's not how songs are supposed to be written."

She knew she was starting to rant, and that she probably shouldn't be sharing this information with him, but she'd been so frustrated that it felt really good to finally vent about it. He listened tentatively as she voiced her irritation, his eyes locked on hers, nodding occasionally. She actually wanted to laugh a couple times because his expression was so serious that it was kind of funny.

"What I think, if you don't mind me giving input," he started, only continuing after she nodded. "Is that you should do what you want. Writing, in any form, is art. Art should never be constricted, refrained, bound to "rules". If we put rules on art, then it would all be the same. It's an expression, a way to express our individuality. It's not meant to be confined to rules."

Kai was so grateful she nearly hugged him. "Thank you…"

He smiled at her, an expression that light up his eyes and carved two dimples in his cheeks. "Screw what Kalivas says. He wanted you to write a song, right? Write it the way you want to write it. If he tells you it's wrong, who cares? You like it, why should anyone else care."

"You're my new best friend," She said, making him laugh. "Seriously, you're, like, the best person ever."

"Do so at your own risk." He quoted her teasingly.

"Damned if I do, damned if I don't." She shot back, causing him to laugh again.

"Y'know, Star Kid, you're not so bad."

"Call me Kai." She told him, hoping he'd give her his name in return.

"I don't have a cool stage name like yours, so you'll just have to stick with George."

George Harrison. Right. That was his name. "I can do that." She said, checking the time before muttering a curse. "I have to be back for sound check soon, and I told James I'd have something written by the time I got back." She frowned at him apologetically, but he held up his hands.

"Hey, I got it. I'll see you around, Kai." He shot her one last smile before leaving. "Good luck with your song."

She smiled back. "Thanks, George."

She watched his retreating figure for a moment before turning to her notebook and writing down what she'd started to write earlier that James hadn't liked.

 _She works for the weekend_

 _Mix tapes of her favorite bands_

 _Tearin' up the radio_

 _Lost in the stereo sound..._

* * *

 **A/N: I actually vented a lot of personal frustration through this chapter, so it felt really good to write! As much as I'd like to thank you guys for the reviews that you gave me, I can't actually view them for some reason! Anyone else having the same problem? Sorry if this chapter was boring, I just sort of wanted to bring to light to the fact that the rivalry only really exists between half of each band. Even though I can't see your reviews, leave me one to tell me how I'm doing! Who knows, I might be able to see it one day, haha! Thanks for reading!**

 **The song that Kai is writing is All Time Low's "Lost in Stereo" I do not own this song or it's lyrics, but I do recommend you check it out if you've never heard it, it's really great!**


End file.
